Customer Reviews

Burley SOLO Bicycle Trailer

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

For one child this is an excellent trailer. The size (length/width/weight) is just about perfect and the materials are durable and simple to clean. It is extremely easy to hitch/unhitch to your bike. It's also fairly good as a stroller (although, of course you have to pay extra for the stroller "kit"). I especially like the way the side plastic is tinted to protect from the sun and the ease with which you can zip up the front to shield your child from the elements in case of sudden rain. It folds up and loads in the trunk of a car well, without needing to remove the wheels. It even has decent cargo capacity for grocery bags, toys, snacks, etc. Overall, I highly recommend it.

I use the trailer with my recumbent bike to transport my son to a park 0.5 mi (800m) away. The trailer is well made and fits together easily (with the exception of slipping a couple small loops of the canopy over the knobs at the sides of the top. The trailer collapses quickly for storage. The elastic of the canopy makes it very quick to open for insertion/removal of child. The blue shade on the canopy is VERY useful in sunny climates like Texas. The hitch that installs on the bicycle is easy to install and not a nuisance when not using the trailer. I don't use the trailer as a walker, so I can't comment on that other than to say that it would be a BIG walker compared to, say, a jogging stroller. I like the trunk space behind the seat mesh; it can hold 2-3 bags of groceries. There is a mesh pouch inside the cabin that is accessible from the trunk and the child's seat. I used to put my wallet and keys there until my son was able to pull out my keys and play with them. Now that pouch is used to hold his drink.

The worst part of the trailer is the seat mesh design. The seat mesh connects to the top bar with no option of disconnect (if I wanted to haul extra cargo instead of passenger). Furthermore, the mesh connects to the top and means if the child wears a helmet, the helmet collides with the mesh forcing the child's head to tip forward or the helmet to slide forward onto his face. Thankfully my commute is not on a road, so I don't feel bad about letting him ride without a helmet.

I bought the Burley Solo when Amazon had a substantial discount (nearly 50%, I think). I would not recommend this at full price when there are decent alternatives at much lower prices. Also, I find many barely-used trailers available for resale on the list of craig.

I bought the Burley SOLO bike trailer last summer after doing TONS of research about bike trailers. I bought the burley when my daughter was an infant and also bought the infant "snuggler" to keep her held tight in the trailer. It was a great buy. I felt comfortable strapping my daughter, who was at the time only five months old, into the trailer and snuggler... and she loved it... she slept comfortably the whole time. However, as she has gotten older and is now walking, talking, sitting up, and playing... she is outgrowing the trailer. I paid nearly $500 for the trailer new. I never imagined she would outgrow it in just a year. Due to the "hammock" design of the seat she is forced to slump and cannot sit up and play. The trailer is also very difficult to attach to the bike (if you do not have the standard hitch, in which case you must buy an alternative hitch ($20)). I recently went on vacation and rented a cheaper bike trailer for long rides to the beach. I was in shock at how much more i liked this trailer. The trailer I rented was $200 NEW! My daughter LOVED it... she could sit up and play rather than being thrown backwards and slumped downward into the seat... she enjoyed looking around as we rode. The universal hitch was amazingly easy to attach and detatch... AND the trailer was a two seater!!!! I only wish I had this information before I paid almost 3 times what I should've paid for a trailer I'm not really happy with. I am actually going to sell the Burley SOLO and buy the brand of trailer I rented at the beach, which is the CoPilot.

Good luck! I hope this helps!

Not sure of all the negatives.. we've had our Solo for two years now and are very pleased with it..no issues at all. Child loves the ride. Never complains of being uncomfortable..

This is a well-built, high-quality bike trailer. I've been taking my 2-yr old daughter for evening rides around the neighborhood and she loves it.

I bought "SOLO" trailer a couple days ago for my two year old son. In my experience, assembly documentation is very convoluted. I am surprised that branded product like this, has such poorly written assembly instructions. I saw few video tutorials on [...] and kind of understand which part goes where. Hitching to bike and later folding it back was not bad (it took me about 3 minutes). Cargo space behind the seat may have some use for water bottle etc, nothing heavy...

Most importantly, my son enjoyed the ride and that's all matter!

Bought a Burley D'lite about 10 years ago. It was and still is beautiful. I bought a solo in the last 6 months. The quality is not anywhere near what I thought it would be. It reminds me of a bad knock-off. The fabric does not fit the frame well at all. I assumed that since I was buying 'Burley', I was buying the best. I wish I would have shopped around more. I know, this is what happens when you assume.